Each Friday for PhillyVoice, Steve Maltepes,
known as “The Philly Godfather,” will impart his gambling wisdom on the Eagles
and where the smart money is going on various pro football games this weekend.
Maltepes is one of the nation’s hottest sports betting experts who appears weekly
on national radio and has his own website, www.thephillygodfather.com.

What
is the line telling you:The NFC East
features two playoff caliber teams in the Cowboys and Eagles, while the
Redskins and Giants seem poised for down seasons. In a weak division, the
Eagles should be able to reach a 4-2, maybe 5-1 division record. The Eagles
only have four playoff teams from last year on their schedule, hosting all four
at Lincoln Financial Field. They will travel to Dallas for their second
division game. With a relatively easy division, and the fact that they will
host all four playoff teams at home, there is no reason why the Eagles can’t
win 10-plus games. A lot of people consider the Eagles the deepest team in the
NFL, and assuming Carson Wentz stays healthy, this team should reach 10 wins.

As for the opener, oddsmakers
offshore opened this line with the Eagles being a short 7-point favorite at
home against a really bad Redskins team, with the combined total points set at 46.
Since then, there's been sharp money attacking the screen on Philadelphia,
which forced bookmakers to adjust their price a whopping three points.

As of right now, the current line
has the Eagles minus-10 and some have this line as high as 10.5. Anytime a line
has moved 3-3.5 points, the value on the move has been extracted, so it’s telling
anyone to bet on the Eagles at minus-10/10.5, when the game opened 7 is never a
good idea.

But if you can tie the Eagles in a 7-point,
two-team teaser with the Baltimore Ravens, who play a down Miami Dolphins
team, you should be able to cash a ticket. I personally bet Eagles -2.5/ Ravens
at a PK on a teaser.

Defenses are always ahead of
offenses early in the regular season and tend to gel faster. With the way this
preseason played out, expect that to be the case again in 2019. With that said,
the under 46 has also been kissed by sharp money, so if you want to throw a
couple dollars on the total that's the sharp way to bet it.

Bottom
line: We
like the two-team, 7-point Eagles/Ravens teaser
and the under-46 point total.

Los
Angeles Rams at Carolina Panthers, 1:00 p.m. Sunday

(Games
467 & 468 on the sports betting screen)

The
Line: Rams minus-1/Total: 48.5

What
is the line telling you: Oddsmakers
offshore initially opened this line with the defending NFC Champion Rams as 3-point
road favorites over Carolina with the combined total set at 51. We think
the wrong team is favored here.

We
love teams with a great pass rush and the Panthers defensive line, which ranked
11th in pressure rate in 2018, added Bruce Irvin along with Gerald McCoy from Tampa, who had
44.5 sacks and went to six-straight pro bowls before last year, not to mention
drafting Brian Burns 16th overall and who is supposed to be a monster, so expect
them to be even better.

This
Carolina team is healthy this year compared to last, when they were the seventh
most injured team in football, and that's going to make a huge difference in
2019 for Cam Newton and his crew. Newton, who is 40-to-1 to win the MVP,
definitely has some value, as does the 25-to-1 odds on them to win the Super
Bowl.

The
Rams on the other hand will definitely regress in my opinion.

They
lose Nadamokong Suh on their defensive line. Speedy, younger safety Lamarcus
Joyner gets replaced by the 34-year-old Erick Weddle. They did pick up the
veteran linebacker Clay Matthews, but his best years are behind him, and in the
offensive trenches there's a bunch of uncertainty looming on the o-line.
They're starting a new center, Brian Allen, and Joe Noteboom is their new left
guard. Wide receiver Cooper Kupp is coming off a torn ACL, and Todd Gurley
just didn't look the same in the playoffs.

The
Rams were also a very fortunate team last year coming in fourth place in
turnover differential at plus-11 and fourth in AGL, which means they were one
of the least injured teams. Repeating this will be very difficult.

And
the Super Bowl hangover curse might be lingering here. Those that don't know
what that is: Since 2000, eight teams have failed to make the playoffs after
losing the Super Bowl the previous year.

Bottom
line: The Panthers plus-3 and a
small bite on the plus-130 money line.

Kansas
City Chiefs at Jacksonville Jaguars, 1:00 p.m. Sunday

(Games
463 & 464 on the sports betting screen)

The
Line: Chiefs minus-3.5/Total: 50

What
is the line telling you: Books offshore
and in Vegas opened up with Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs as 4.5-point
favorites over the Jags, with the combined total set at 52.5. Immediately, we
saw some sharp money attack the screen on the home dog here.

The
current line is painted KC minus 3.5 everywhere and, depending where you shop,
you can actually lay 3.5 on even money, which means the books are inviting you
to bet the Chiefs here and won't charge you any juice.

If
you think the wiseguys are out of their minds betting against last year’s MVP
Patrick Mahomes, then you’re actually better off buying the hook and dropping
that line down to that key number of 3.

We love
the Jags here in this spot at home to cover. They upgraded at quarterback with
our beloved Nick Foles, and wide receiver Marquise Lee is back and healthy.
Their offensive, which was banged up with injuries all of 2018, is finally
healthy. They traded edge rusher Dante Fowler, but drafted defensive end Josh
Allen from Kentucky with their fourth overall pick, which will only enhance
that strong defensive line that came in fourth in the NFL in pressure
rate.

This
game is a coin flip. If you remember last year, Patrick Mahomes struggled
against this Jags defense, throwing two interceptions, and was the only team he
didn't throw a touchdown against while lighting up the rest of the NFL for 50
touchdowns.

Bottom
line: We like the home team
Jags plus-4 points. There's also some sharp money on the under 52.5.